Like Rats in a Maze
by Madam O
Summary: A small group of superheroes is captured and forced to run a gauntlet-like series of tests for a sinister villain.


Madam O woke up in a daze, knowing something was wrong without even opening her eyes. She couldn't remember going to sleep, she was curled up on her side, and she was laying on something hard and bumpy. None of those descriptions matched her bed.

Cracking her eyes open, she regretted it as pain lanced through her head. With a small moan she forced her eyes to obey and looked around.

_Well, if this is a commercial for the Anti-Drug foundation, I think I have to start donating._ She was laying on the floor of a small room with gray stone walls, and broken concrete floors. One small metal door stood in the far wall, and a tiny window was in the next wall. But more disturbing than all of this were the other figures in the cell with her.

She scanned the room, taking in the unconscious forms of Wu Shin, M'tinok Glaxo, Coin-Op, White Sensation, Merry Maid, and Sukomi. Each one laying as she had been, not moving. Moving to Wu's side she checked to make sure he was still breathing. After reassuring herself that everyone would survive, she reached out and shook his shoulder.

"Wu.. Come on Wu, wake up. I don't think this is a good place for nap time." Wu's eyes fluttered open and a look of annoyance crossed his face until he looked around and saw their surroundings. Then his eyes narrows and he nodded once. Together, they made their way around the room, waking each person and checking for injuries. Except for the strange headache, they were all fine.

"Well, this is.. strange. Can't say I've ever woken up in a cell like this before. Umm.. Anyone want to try the door" O flattened herself against the wall under the window.

Wu moved to the door and paused. He grunted softly. "No handle. No hinges." He looked back and silently gestured for O to move, which she did. Hovering up into the air, Wu floated before the small darkened window and leveled a punch at it. O cringed at the impact. The steel walls groaned but held, and the window itself.. _Not even a dent!_

"Looks like someone" said Merry"doesn't want us getting out of here any time soon." She shrugged. "At least I'm not lost for a change."

O grinned, but just then a figure appeared in the window. It was so darkened she couldn't make out the person, but clearly it was leaning over the window and looking in at them. Then a voice was heard, though O saw no speakers in the room.

"Welcome to your new home. Test subjects you are. Run my gauntlet you will. Survive... Likely you will not."

O saw Wu roll his eyes and had to stifle a giggle. Gauntlet? Fun, yet another lunatic to add to her list of "Must avoids". She raised her voice. "Who are you"

"Entity Alpha, I am. Your owner, I am."

M'tinok peered into the dark window and spoke, his alien face expressionless. "Owner? You do not own any of us. We are free"

A harsh buzzing sound flooded the cell, and O had to slap her hands over her ears, though it seemed to not help. Then the voice replaced it. "Enough. You will serve because you have no choice." The door slid open, the metal sliding downward into the floor smoothly without even a hiss. Coin-Op, standing closest to it, peered through, but could see nothing but darkness. "Proceed to the first chamber. This cell will be flooded in thirty seconds."

Wordlessly, the group exchanged glances. _Well,_ O thought, _if the choice is stay in this tiny cell where we can't do anything, or move to this test chamber, I guess for the moment he's right - it isn't much of a choice._

The group walked through the door.

As soon as they walked through the door, a faint blue lighting flickered on, revealing another plain concrete room with identical ugly gray walls and rocky floor. Glancing around, O saw Whitey disappear behind his cloaking device, and smiled to herself. Merry tensed and her image wavered, not quite translucent. Wu simply strode in to the center of the room, ready to face whatever this villain threw at them.

O mentally reached out and brushed lightly against his inner core, sending energy into him and granting him extra fortitude for whatever troubles lie ahead. M'tinok was scanning the room with that impassive stare, and Coin-Op was tensed, watching the only other door out, identical to the one they had just entered.

The voice returned. "Begin Phase One. Morphic Combat analysis." The harsh buzzing sound returned briefly, and she began to wonder if that was some sort of laughter for this creep.

A shadow moved to her left, and she spun, but all she saw was the gray walls. The chamber was only perhaps thirty feet across, not a lot of room to maneuver, and the ceiling only allowed enough space to hover slightly. She didn't bother.

Suddenly something struck her from behind, a hard blow between her shoulder blades that sent her staggering. Wu caught her and helped her steady. Spinning she stared - and saw nothing.

"Great. Invisible enemies" She reached out with her mind but felt no other presences in the room but her friends. "How on earth do we" her voice cut off as the horribly loud noise of Whitey's assault rifle filled the air. Bullets ricocheted off the wall in a line as he swept it from one corner to the other. The rest of them shrank back to avoid rebound.

As the rattle died, she looked at Whitey, opening her mouth in rebuke, when suddenly a part of the wall separated itself and fell, fading as it did from the dull gray to a black form. It was vaguely reptilian, with a forked tongue hanging out of its mouth and greenish ichor forming a puddle around it, leaking from myriad holes in its side. Whitey grinned and slammed another clip into his rifle, winking at her.

"Chameleons" Then the whole room erupted. There must have been fifteen of them, all over the walls and ceiling, dropping down and spring at them with vicious claws and sharp fangs. Wu sprang forward to meet two, and slammed one into the other, where they toppled with a hiss.

M'tinok caught one in the chest with a bolt of radiation, almost casually, and it fell, screaming as its chest bubbled away. Coin-Op was playing Pac-Man music as he swung his claws around, the kind after you eat a power pill. After one particularly brutal slash taking the tail off one of the beasts, she vaguely heard him yell "Bonus".

Then she had no more time to look around as one landed on top of her back and dragged her to the ground. Desperately, she twisted and began to spin, spinning so fast the thing let go, only to be caught by the swirling vortex of air she created and slammed repeatedly into the ceiling. Absently, she noted the dent it was causing before finally slowing down and letting it slump to the ground.

As she turned, another leaped at her, fangs reaching for her throat - she gasped and tried to jerk back, but everything was moving too slowly, everything but those horrible fangs.. Just inches before they pierced her skin, a brilliant blast of energy caught it in the side and slammed it into the door, which made a hollow clunk. She panted, trying to breathe again, and looking up to see Merry smiling.

Then it was over, and the group stood still, making sure no more were hiding. O made the mental effort to reach out and re-knit the wounds they had suffered. Then the voice spoke again. "Phase one complete. Durability level high." The other door slid open, and the harsh buzzing returned, along with more words. "Proceed to the next chamber. This room will be flooded in thirty seconds."

They looked at one another. This wasn't going anyplace good. _Then again_, O thought, _what choice do we have?_

They walked on.

The next room was another identical copy of the dull gray, and her mind screamed for a dash of color to spice things up. As Whitey stepped through, bringing up the rear, the door slid closed.

This time, when the blue lighting flickered on she saw a set of manacles on the back wall. _Odd_, she thought. _No one's in them._

Merry was floating along intangible, checking the walls for more chameleons. When the harsh buzzing came again, she managed to keep her hands at her side, knowing it wouldn't do any good, and hoping it ended soon.

Fortunately, it did, replaced by the voice she was growing to hate very quickly.

"Phase Two. Ambiguity Testing. You will choose one of your group to remain behind in the manacles. The door will not open until one of you is chained. This room will flood in 120 seconds."

O's eyes widened. "What! No way! We're not leaving someone here to die" She looked around, seeking another way out. The others exchanged glances. They'd already tried the doors and windows. The room's other features offered little opportunity for escape.

Wu closed his eyes. "I will remain."

O turned to look at him and glared. "Go to hell. No one's dying alone."

Whitey laughed, a weak nervous thing. "I second Wu."

M'tinok and Coin-Op both shook their heads. Merry made a humming sound. "I could. I mean, I might be fine, intangible."

Wu raised an eyebrow. "You still breathe, do you not? Do you really want to test the theory of whether the air is intangible as well"

They stared at each other. The voice returned. "Thirty seconds until room flooding.

O spun to the window again. "Damn you! Who do you think you are? This isn't right! This isn't a test! You're talking about letting a friend die"

Wu stepped over to the manacles and reached up for one, but O lunged across the room and shoved him - hard. He staggered into the wall and turned to gaze at her. "Olivia.. A sacrifice.."

She cut him off. "No. No brave sacrifices. No martyrs. If he wants tests, he won't get cooperation from me. I'm NOT leaving this room unless we all do"

Small cracks opened along the floor and water began flooding into the room. It filled rapidly, climbing to their knees in a matter of seconds. The rest of the group shrugged and leaned back against the walls.

Whitey grimaced and held his gun high. "Well, I suppose if I have to go, at least it's in good company. But hey - since we're going to die anyway, can I get your number now Merry"

Merry gave him a blank look that didn't last because water hit her in the face. Wu stepped over and rested a hand on O's shoulder. "Very well then. May we find peace, Olivia."

The water rose to the ceiling - and darkness took her.

She awoke quickly, in a rush, and the first thought was that she still had that damn headache. _And here I thought pain stopped when you were dead_. Then, as she opened her eyes to see the blue flickering lights again, she felt her eyes begin to tear up.

Glancing around, she saw the rest of the group getting to their feet. Her costume was still damp. The door across the room was open. She started to pick her self up, then fell back onto her knee as the buzzing noise pounded into her skull again. _Damn it,_ she thought, _that hurt._

When it subsided she struggled to rise again, blood pounding in her ears. When she stopped swaying she realized the voice was speaking again. "..plete. Interesting analysis. A foolish illogical reaction. Your kind will be less of a challenge than we had believed. Proceed to the next chamber. This room will"

"Yeah yeah we know, this room will flood in 30 seconds. off" Whitey was gripping his rifle tightly, white knuckled. He flipped the figure in the window off. The rest of the group grinned and then slowly moved through the door.

It slid shut behind them, leaving complete darkness. O felt herself irrationally frightened. _Come off it Olivia.. If you're going to be scared, make it useful, not something stupid like the dark.. Here we are, trapped in some sort of laboratory, running a deadly gauntlet and you're sitting here worried that it's dark._

"I hate the dark." Merry and Wu said nearly simultaneously. Suddenly, O felt much better. Then a light came on with a click. Not the flickering blue lights from above, but a soft white glow from the center of the room. Blinking, she tried to see more clearly.

_What the?_ Her eyes widened as she took in the scene. This room was not gray concrete. The floor was hardwood, polished brightly and gleaming in the soft light which came from an antique table lamp, sitting on an end table next to a large, plush recliner. Paintings of all sorts hung on the walls, and a few bookshelves stood in a corner. All in all it looked like a parlor from a Sherlock Holmes novel.

And there was a man sitting in the recliner, smiling at them. He was fairly nondescript, short gray hair brushed back off a high forehead. His eyes were blue, piercing through her. His arms rested comfortably on the arm rests, the sleeves of his white silk shirt falling slightly away revealing an ornate gold watch on his right wrist.

M'tinok seemed to regain his composure first. "Are you, too, a prisoner here" The man in the recliner smiled more broadly, his eyes widening. When he opened his mouth, O winced, for the buzzing was back - and coming from him!

"No. I am no prisoner here. I decided I needed to study you more closely." His voice, that voice, was barely human, so harsh and mechanical sounding. The group looked at each other in shock. Their enemy, sitting right here unprotected?

With a cry, Wu leapt forward at him, and Merry, M'tinok and Whitey all opened fire on him.

All hell broke loose.

The scene was a madhouse. Wu had the man against the far wall, leveling punches into him faster than her eyes could even track. Energy blasts, bullets and even a few rockets slammed into the man - with radiation glowing all around and making the scene look even scarier.

Absently she noticed blood dripping to the floor. She ignored it. She slammed the man back into the wall, over and over with her mind, wanting nothing less than to obliterate him. Wu had a blank look in his eyes, Whitey was just holding the trigger down to the stock, barely even aiming, eyes half closed.

She heard a slight sob and looked to her right to see Merry curled up on the floor, arms curled around herself. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. O felt a flash of rage. _How dare she! How dare she cower and cry when we need to kill him? We need to rip him limb from limb!_ She took a step over and prepared to mentally lift her friend and fling her to her senses, could feel her power uncoiling-

And stopped suddenly in horror. _What am I doing?_ She staggered back. Merry was not wrong. She was her friend, and they were.. were..

"STOP" She didn't realize she had shouted. She turned around to see her friends still flaying the man. The pool of blood had grown larger, and the glimpses she could see of him showed horrible wounds.

Her friends didn't stop. She realized there was a red light coming from the ceiling she hadn't noticed. There was some sort of beam there, energy of some sort. Without thinking, she lashed out, air solidifying at her command to smash the small projector. The red light cut out, and she felt a weight ease off her mind. She held still a moment to refocus her Inner Core and realized that whatever it was it had been projecting hatred on her - and the rest of her friends.

"STOP" She yelled again, and this time they all froze. Motionless, the only sounds in the room were harsh breathing and an occasional drip as blood fell to the growing puddle.

"This isn't us. We're heroes. We don't kill." She took a step towards the man, stumbling as the tension ran out of her muscles and she reached out and caught Wu's shoulder to steady herself. Kneeling, she nearly became sick as she saw the damage they had wrought to the enemy before them.

Reaching out again, she focused on helping the flesh heal itself, creating blood and sinew from air and patching wounds. It took nearly fifteen minutes to heal him, so much damage they had dealt. When she stood up, Wu was kneeling in the far corner, staring at his hands. She went over and knelt before him.

"Wu. This wasn't your fault. None of us did this. We were controlled. You stopped, Wu. You stopped, that's all that matters." His eyes found hers, drinking in her explanation, seeking validity with a hunger that scared her. Eventually, slowly, almost imperceptibly, he nodded. With a sigh she stood back up.

"We'll hand him over to the authorities. It's what we do."

That's when the buzzing kicked in again and she lost focus on the room.

The buzzing went on and on, it seemed like forever before it ended, but when it did she looked back towards the man and was confuse to see him still unconscious. If he was sleeping than how..?

The voice came over the speakers. "Very interesting. And disappointing. You failed to destroy my decoy. Clearly our equipment needs work. Please pro"

Whitey interrupted him again. "! Decoy? Who is this then"

The voice rose an octave, making O wonder if it was in excitement or humor. "Merely a citizen of your city we modified to convey my voice."

The horror of what they had nearly done - of what they _had_ done sank in for a minute. "You.. You monster.."

"I am what I am. Proceed to the next chamber."

The door slid open, and the lights dimmed. Wu picked up the unconscious man and they walked into the next chamber. As the door slid closed, the inevitable blue lighting flickered on and they once again found themselves in a dull gray chamber - this one however was more of a hallway than a room. It was perhaps one hundred feet long, with windows down one side and a door at the other end which was open.

"Begin Phase Four. Reflex testing. Proceed to the next chamber."

They looked at one another again. "That does not sound promising" M'tinok said flatly.

They shook their heads. Wu took point again. As he stepped forward, Merry suddenly reached out and yanked back hard on his tunic. He jerked back with a grunt and froze as a large blade flew through the space his head was a moment ago. It launched itself from the far wall to embed itself solidly in the windowed wall. The size of a machete, it was wickedly sharp.

"Well.. Now we know how they test reflexes here. Thanks Merry, that's twice we owe you."

Merry's brow furrowed. "Twice"

"Back in the last room. It was you that snapped us out of that anger and rage. When I saw you crying I knew something was wrong. I guess even though we all got hit, you're too sweet to give in to that. I don't suffer that same problem it seems." O frowned, not certain that was a good thing.

Wu rested a hand on her shoulder again. "Silk over steel, Olivia." His hand squeezed softly.

She nodded, relieved. "Yeah. We are who we are."

"Ok. Let's do this."

They walked. They crawled. They flew, they leaped. Spears sprang from walls, floors, ceiling. Blades ripped apart chunks of concrete and pits opened beneath their feet. O was busy healing cuts and crushed bones before long, and they were moving at a crawl. It was worse than Indiana Jones.

Then Wu stopped, holding up a hand. They froze, holding their breath and listening. He cocked his head to the side and whispered"When all expected avenues of progress seem unlikely to succeed, what is left"

They gave him blank looks back and he sighed. "You take an unexpected avenue." And he suddenly stepped back and jumped down one of the pits. Merry screamed, O dropped to her knees and reached in, but a moment later Whitey pulled the trigger and sent a spray of fire down the pit, lighting it up - and unfortunately Wu as well who was hovering perhaps twenty feet down, studying the side of the pit which continued down beyond their range of view.

Wu pressed himself against the wall and glared up at Whitey who shrugged and began whistling as he cleaned his rifle. Wu, once more in darkness, made a grunt and then sounds of impacts trickled up to their ears as he began slamming the wall with punches. A moment later they heard a loud crack and a small laugh. "It seems they did not feel the need to make these walls of hero-proof stone. I believe we have a way out."

The harsh buzzing began and the voice overrode it"Stop. Proceed to the next chamber. The test can not be compromised."

She laughed and jumped into the pit, soaring down and through the hole Wu had opened. "Let's go gang - I've had enough tests."

As they each came down and through, O looked around and found herself in what appeared to be maintenance shafts. She grinned.

"Ok. Time to take the fight to these idiots. Let's show them who they're dealing with."

O strode forward, trying to be silent. Her footsteps, faint though they were, echoed quietly along the empty corridor of the maintenance shaft. Pipes and vents were the only breaks in the otherwise monotonous gray stone. Suddenly M'tinok grabbed her arm and yanked.

She stumbled, nearly fell. Turning, she glared at the alien, but he merely pointed to a small red beam along the floor. _Trip beam_, she thought, and felt her face burning. She'd nearly set off some trap, and been angry with M'tinok for stopping her. She nodded to him in apology.

Whitey knelt and fiddled with the projector on the side of the wall. A moment later, the beam disappeared, and Whitey slipped something into his pocket. He grinned and whispered"I can always use more lasers."

They moved on. Twice more they ran into trip wires, but clearly this corridor was not a place the enemy expected to encounter trouble. Then again, since they knew they'd escaped their maze, they were bound to be looking for them, and it likely wouldn't take too long to figure out where they were.

Then they turned a corner and saw a door. Dark green, with magnetic seals along its edges, it was at the end of the hall. "Well, guess that's our exit."

They approached cautiously. Merry and Whitey stood rear guard as the rest studied the door, searching for a way to open it. Wu was the one that found a small control panel on the wall nearby.

"Great. Anyone know the code? I mean, they issue those to all prisoners, right" A few grins, but they were shaky. If they couldn't get through the door, they'd have to go back the other way and hope they had better luck.

Suddenly Merry spoke. "17342." They looked at her. O raised an eyebrow. "I thought I was the psychic one, Merry"

Merry shook her head. "Don't ask me how I know that. I have no idea. I just.. do."

Wu cocked his head to the side but O shrugged. "Good a try as any, I suppose. She punched it in.

The door slid open.

Stepping slowly through the new doorway, Wu raised a hand to signal a stop. He peered around the dimly lit room and finally waved slightly and walked in. The rest of them filed in, finding themselves in a locker room of sorts. Benches and lockers line the room's walls, and a set of open, empty showers sat in the back corner. The only other door out was a small green thing set across from the one they entered through.

Moving quietly, Whitey stepped over and opened a locker. He nearly dropped his gun as it revealed a set of black clothing and a backpack instantly recognizable to the others. _Sapper gear_!

"Well, now we know who the kidnappers are" said Merry.

"Not so fast." M'tinok was behind them, and they spun to see him holding another locker open, and inside, a set of bright colorful costuming and a pale white mask with fanciful decorations.

"Carnies! What is this, a changing room for a Villain Club" Whitey snapped his teeth shut on the trail of that question, suddenly not sure he wanted an answer.

They opened more lockers, finding more sets of various clothing. Council, Nemesis, Crey. They were all there, all working, and all, judging by the wrinkles and odors, recently used.

"This is not good." Merry looked like she wanted to Phase Shift again.

"Well, we're not going to find anything out standing here. If we want to know who captured us, and get out of here, we need to keep moving." O nodded to Wu and he moved to the other door. Silently, he turned the handle and opened it.

"Hold it." Merry laid a hand on Wu's arm as he started to open the door. They turned to look at her.

She looked back at each one with a critical eye. "Right now, much as I like to set fashions, we're rather.. conspicuous. Maybe..." she nodded at the costumes.

O's eyes widened. "Good idea! I call Carnie"

The rest rolled their eyes. They each quickly changed into a set of villain clothing. O had to smack Whitey twice and tell him to get back on the other side of the lockers.

Then they stared at each other again, holding back laughter. O adjusted her corset and tights. "These itch."

Wu was tugging at the collar of his red button-down jacket as a Colonel of the Nemesis forces and trying not to hit Whitey, standing there as a Malta Sapper. M'tinok had wisely chosen a full-masked outfit that looked like a Ninja of some sort, and Merry was grinning in her Crey suit.

"Ok, let's go." Wu reached for the door again and opened it. They stepped out into a well-lit hallway with doors running down both walls. A few people were walking through the halls, carrying clip-boards and palm pilots. No one spared them a glance.

"Right" said Whitey. "Now we just need to find the control center, shouldn't be too hard in a huge complex of Evil, right" He laughed nervously.

Merry tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped two feet. He glared at her, and she pointed down the hall.

A large sign over a set of expensive wooden double doors read "CONTROL CENTER: AUTHORIZED PERSONELL ONLY"

"Right. Yeah. See? Told you."

O laughed. "Yeah, and they spelled Personnel wrong too."

O punched his shoulder and they strode down the hall towards the doors, acting like they belonged there. People got out of their way fast, pressing against the walls. Privately, O thought she could get to enjoy this, even if the tights _did_ itch a lot.

They were about fifty feet from the doors when the alarms started to go off.

They froze. Red lights began flashing all down the hallway, and alarm klaxons began shrieking throughout the building. Most of the people in the halls screamed and began running, obviously wanting to be somewhere that was not _here_.

They were still trying to decide what to do when a large force of guards in flak armor rounded the corner with assault rifles and began running at them.

Wu raised his hands as though he were about to attack, but O stopped him and stepped forward. "What's the emergency, boys"

The troop stopped and the leader saluted. "Intruder alert ma'am. Perimeter was breached and the intruders could be anywhere in the building at the moment. We were sent to guard the control room."

She thought a moment. "Belay those orders. We'll guard the control room. You conduct a level-by-level search for the intruders. Start with level 1 and I don't want a room left untouched. Understand"

The man saluted again. "Yes, ma'am" The troop turned around and headed back the way they came. O sagged against the wall. Wu helped her stand up.

"Nicely done, Olivia." He was staring at the backs of the men as they turned a corner and vanished, as though unbelieving they were simply leaving.

"Thanks. Well.. If that wasn't an invitation, I don't know what was." She turned and they walked down to the doors. They were locked again, but this time Merry didn't even hesitate, she just tapped in a series of numbers and the doors hissed open.

The group looked at her. "We need to have a talk when this is over, Merry." O raised an eyebrow at her friend.

Then they looked inside and froze, their hackles rising.

The room was large. very large. Rows and banks of control panels and monitors lined the walls, and booths with more consoles sat in a semi-circle facing the main viewscreen. In the center of it all was a slightly raised platform on which stood a man. As the doors open, he turned towards them, and O gasped. Half his body was metallic, clearly mechanical. The other half was the spitting image of Statesman!

He glanced at them and waved at the door. When he spoke, the entire team shook with fury, as his voice was clearly the one of "Entity Alpha".

"Response time acceptable. Guard those doors."

He then turned and ignored them, as he gave orders to the people they hadn't noticed before, so focused were they on their nemesis.

At each console was a man-sized being working the controls. Clearly mechanical, they were each similar to Entity Alpha, half human and half machine - and each bore the face of a popular hero from the Freedom Phalanx.

The team exchanged glances and O quickly issued orders to form a perimeter around the door to cover their lapse. They spread out a bit, each getting into a position where they could observe and attack when the right moment came.

Alpha was clearly upset. "Change search pattern Alpha Delta Three. Find them! Bring to me the one who made the traps. He will be eliminated for his failures to plan for this."

They watched silently as the view screen changed rapidly from hallway to room to hallway, showing security teams sweeping the compound. O allowed herself a smirk at the situation. _Keep looking high and low for the wolf at your throat_, she thought.

Then Alpha turned back to them. Focusing on her, probably because she had been the one issuing commands, he glared. "Where are others? The hostile intruders are dangerous super-beings. Specifically for large force I called."

O thought a moment but decided the ruse had gone long enough. Reaching up, she tore the mask from her face and pointed at him. "Sorry, but there was a change of plans."

As his face twisted into a mixture of surprise and horror, she reached out and slammed him back against the nearest bank of monitors.

"TAKE HIM"

The team burst into action. Wu leaped over a bank of consoles and broke his Nemesis rifle over one mech's head, sending it crashing to the ground making a faint buzzing noise. Sparks showered around him as he leaped into the air again towards another.

Whitey opened up with the Sapper rifle and the horrible blue flash filled the room. When it cleared, a few mechs were lying on the ground twitching. He laughed loudly. "How's it feel" Then he dropped the spent gun and opened fire with his normal rifle, bullets zinging around madly.

M'Tinok filled the room with an eerie green glow and the mask he wore burned away as beams of radiation shot from his eyes. A mech grappled him, and the two spun against the wall. A flash of green later, the mech was sailing through the air to crash against the far wall, and M'tinok was wiping his hands off on his pants.

Merry edged around the room behind a bank of consoles. Looking down, she clapped her hands together and sent a huge burst of energy against the towering metal, sending the entire wall of equipment toppling over onto three other mechs. They buzzed and clicked, trying to get out from underneath.

O stood still, locked in mental combat with Entity Alpha. Her arm was straining in time with her mind as she struggled to keep him held in the corner. She could feel something tickling the back of her mind as he struggled to get free.

Just then the doors burst open and a squad of guards came pouring in. After a moment's hesitation reviewing the melee, they raised their rifles and opened fire. O, standing right by the door and facing the far corner, never saw the bullets that struck her from behind and sent her spinning to the floor. The team looked over in horror.

Time seemed to stand still. The only sound was a faint buzzing from the downed mechs, and the **tick, tick** of the second hand of a clock on the wall, which seemed to grow louder and slower with each step.

A slow pool of bright red spread from beneath the fallen healer, and the light in the room appeared to grow dimmer as the team processed the sight.

Then, with a roar of almost inhuman rage, Wu Shin slammed into the guards and spread his arms. The floor buckled, the metal warping and rolling, and a black mist rose out of cracks in the smooth plating. Swirling around them, it whispered of death and despair as it choked the guards and burned their skin like acid. Funneling to a point, it coalesced onto Wu Shin, who absorbed it and turned to the guards left standing, his eyes glowing as red as the blood glistening under his feet.

The rest of the team opened fire, bullets, energy and radiation crackling and converging on the hapless guards, who now dropped their weapons and turned to run, only to be cut down, their body armor shredded beyond recognition and uniforms turned to confetti.

Wu was spinning, punching, knocking one guard against the other and picking one up to hurl him through the doorway and a good forty feet down the hall.

Then they turned to look at Entity Alpha, standing in the corner, and looking at all of them with a blank expression.

The seconds ticked by, and the blood continued to spread.

A monitor flickered to life against the far wall. A man sat at a desk, his feet up on it and his hands behind his head against the back of a very plush black leather chair. He was young, and hawk-faced, very serious looking. He surveyed the group and then turned an eye to Entity Alpha.

"Well, well. It appears you underestimated them."

Alpha did not answer for a moment. "A slight miscalculation. It will be corrected for future missions."

The man in the monitor laughed. "Future missions? What future missions? You're standing in a room trapped by the lab rats you so carefully selected and with each passing second their friend there draws nearer and nearer to death."

Alpha's mech half was resolute, but there was a flicker of something in the eye of the human side. Fear"They are heroes. They pride themselves on honor and duty, they will not kill."

The group shifted uneasily. He was right. The man in the screen laughed again. "True. But I am no hero." He reached out and pushed a small button on his desk, and Alpha exploded, shrapnel flying everywhere. Merry cried out as a sharp piece sliced her cheek, and Wu stumbled slightly as a jagged band of metal embedded itself in his temple. A moment later it dropped to the floor and he straightened, no signs left of the wound.

The man studied them again. "You see, I could hardly leave you to capture and interrogate him. I have such plans for you all, you know."

The group glanced back at O, and their faces tightened. "Who are you? Why are you doing this"

The man's smile returned, a slow lazy smile that did not reach his eyes. It was the smile of a predator eyeing his food, secure in his superiority. "Oh I wouldn't want to ruin the game. I do so hope you don't disappoint me. I'm counting on you to find out." He reached out and pushed another button. They tensed, but all that happened was a low hum stopped they hadn't even been conscious of.

"You'll find your emergency medical teleporters will work again now." Even as he spoke, O began to sparkle and disappeared. "I look forward to our next meeting."

The monitor went dead. The team looked at each other before shrugging and heading for the door. They had a lot of work to do.


End file.
